The Happy SAD playlist for 2009

After a couple of weeks (and minutes) of building it, I'm happy to present the official 2009 playlist for this snowy Valentine's day. It's all purpose - songs for people who are in love, songs for people who are bitter about love, songs for people who want to be in love . . . whatever suits your fancy or situation. So.
(drumroll)

• "Not About Love" - Fiona Apple. This song is perfect because it is part love song, part love-hating song. Take the line, "I miss that stupid ape." She both misses him and thinks he's or dork. Fab.
• "North" - Chris Merritt (or "Tower of Sand" - both are sweet love songs that are also piano rock masterpieces.)
• "I Do It For Your Love" - Paul Simon, specifically the version with Herbie Hancock. I've always thought this song was beautiful, and I think the part I love the most is the realism. "We were married on a rainy day, the sky was yellow and the grass was gray . . . the rooms were musty and the pipes were old, all that winter we shared a cold, drank all the orange juice that we could hold, I do it for your love." It takes some of the stars out of it, but isn't love more about those times when you're trying to get through the ickiness that pops up in life anyway, but it's better now because you're together? Am I wrong about this?
• "Made Up Love Song #43" - Guillemots. I just adore this song. "Now there's poetry in an empty coke can." Awesome.
• "I Don't Know" - Lisa Hannigan. This song just came out on her CD a few weeks ago, and it's great - it's more about waiting to meet someone exciting than it is about love that's already in existence, and how you don't know anything about what they like or are like when you first meet someone, and it may turn out that there's no compatibility, but you still want to meet them.
• "Haze of Love" - Cake. This one is kind of the compliment to last year's "Songs of Love" by Ben Folds. It's kind of an eyes-wide-open approach to love (once you cut through the haze).
• "The Dumbing Down of Love" - Frou Frou. Need I say more? "Love underwhelms you, no box of chocolates . . ." Yeah.
• "Crown of Love" - Arcade Fire. One of the truly fabulous "I want you back" songs - "If you still want me, please forgive me; the crown of love is still upon me." The instrumentation is probably my favorite part of this song.
• "Honestly" - Cary Brothers. This is just a straight up beautiful song about being over someone (but I think he's lying).
• "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" - Bob Dylan. I think this one is especially appropriate if you got to read this post by a friend of a friend (I stalk his blog because he's hilarious, and if I've met him once I figure it isn't too creepy. But I almost applied.)
• "Love Me Like the World Is Ending" - Ben Lee. One of the few really cheesy love songs that I just can't help but adore.
• "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" - Muse. Lots of people have done this song, but Muse's cover is pure awesome.
• "Falling In Love In A Coffee Shop" - Landon Pigg. Lindsey sent me this song awhile ago - it's very sweet. "I think that possibly, maybe I'm falling for you." Ain't that the truth?
• "Taylor the Latte Boy" - Kristin Chenoweth. I just feel like we need to finish the coffee motif here. "Taylor the Latte Boy, bring me java, bring me joy." Also, "Who knew that love could be so caffinated?"
• "Falling" - Ben Kweller. It's just a grand song. Enjoy.
• "You Turn Me Around" - Aqualung. I'm always surprised by Aqualung - somehow I discover their songs one at a time, and whenever I do my mouth hangs open a bit. I can also recommend "Pressure Suit."
• "21 Things I Want in a Lover" - Alanis Morrisette. Treb sent this one to me a little while ago, and it's really kind of awesome for me. I think I have to boil it down to a song about not settling. Alanis and I aren't super close, but I felt this one.
• "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken" - Camera Obscura. A lovely song about the sublime shortsightedness of love, and how that's not always a bad thing.
• "Human Hands" - Sondre Lerche. A jazzy little number that will make you smile on the darkest of Valentine's days.
• "Gotta Have You" - The Weepies. Something about this song feels sad, but the words really aren't - it's just a sort of realization that you can't always wallow away love. "No amount of coffee, no amount of cryin', no amount of whisky, no amount of wine, no, nothing else will do, I've gotta have you."
• "There Cannot Be a Close Second" - Copeland. One of the nicer love songs out there, and I especially like the lines, "You've got an extra special heart, a perfect light that shines through, and it seems the hardest part is shining back at you . . . I've got a perfectly normal heart, bruised and broken from within, at times I don't know how to start to let you in here." Nice.
• "Hymne a l'amour" - Edith Piaf. I don't know what she's saying through most of it, but it's gorgeous, and it's the way I think love should sound. With dancing goats and everything.
• "Black Metal Valentine" - Califone. I feel like there should be at least one song with the word "Valentine" in it, and I used up the rest last year.
• "History of Lovers" - Calexico and Iron & Wine. This song is awesome.
• "Eyes on the Prize" - M. Ward. "With my eyes on the prize and my mind on you, I put my pride on the line and my whole life too." It's groovy and chill - a more relaxed version of love than the frenzied version I see sometimes.
• "Heavy Hearts" - The Morning Benders. This song has a classic fallacy that any economist would catch. "I've put too much in to turn away now." Sunk costs don't matter! Run away!!
• "Lucky You" - The National. I can't ever decide whether this song is sweet or stalkery. "Every time you get a drink, and every time you go to sleep . . . every where you'll be, you're never getting rid of me. You own me - nothing you can do; you own me - lucky you." It's a little bit like "Every breath you take in its quasi-freakiness. Which makes it perfect for this playlist. :)
• "Bye Bye Blackbird" - Peggy Lee. This is another song with many versions, but this is undoubtedly my favorite. "Pack up all my cares and woe, here I go, singin' low . . . no one here can love or understand me, all those hard luck stories they all hand me . . ." It's very nice, and I consider the discovery of this version to be the one redeeming thing I got out of Peter Jackson's King Kong. That, and the pleasure of seeing Adrian Brody in a fedora.
• "Full of Life" - John Gorka. The credit for this one goes to Treb, and it's especially good for the bitterly disappointed out there. "Life is full of disappointments, and I am full of life . . . it could be the life I've chosen don't have room for someone else, or the woman who could stand me, is keeping to herself . . . when love is worse than being lonely, it leaves you twisted up inside." I think my favorite line is the one that reminds me of Woody Allen - "You see couples who seem happy and wonder how they got that way. Are the blind and kind of stupid, or are they having a good day?" hahaha. Please see the Woody Allen quote in my sidebar.
• "This Time the Dream's On Me" - Ella Fitzgerald or Harry Connick Jr. I love both versions, and it's the perfect song for anyone who's hoping for better Valentine's Days to come. "Somewhere, someday, we'll be close together - wait and see. Oh, by the way, this time the dream's on me." 
• "Let's Get It On" - Marvin Gaye. I was never a huge fan of this song until I saw High Fidelity, and now it just makes me think of all kinds of funny things. Also, the line, "We're all sensitive people with so much to give - understand me sugar." Yes. However, I think we should also address the "Giving yourself to me is never wrong as long as we love each other." I feel like that line is straight out of a sex education class. Either way, it's classic.

So maybe it isn't a completely balanced playlist, but it does give you some alternatives to "I Honestly Love You" and "I Could Be Your Hero." Enjoy!